[ALL OF YOU, O believers, are brethren:85 hence,] no
blame attaches to the blind, nor does blame attach to the lame,
nor does blame attach to the sick [for accepting charity from the
hale], and neither to your-selves for eating [whatever is offered
to you by others, whether it be food obtained] from your
[chil-dren's] houses,86 or your fathers' houses, or your
mothers' houses, or your brothers' houses, or your sisters'
houses, or your paternal uncles' houses, or your paternal aunts'
houses, or your maternal uncles' houses, or your maternal aunts'
houses, or [houses] the keys whereof are in your
charge,87 or [the house] of any of your friends; nor
will you incur any sin by eating in company or separately. But
whenever you enter [any of these] houses, greet one another with
a blessed, goodly greeting, as enjoined by God. In this way God
makes clear unto you His messages, so that you might [learn to]
use your reason.

There is no restriction on the blind, or the disabled, or the sick.1 Nor on yourselves if you eat from your homes,2 or the homes of your fathers, or your mothers, or your brothers, or your sisters, or your paternal uncles, or your paternal aunts, or your maternal uncles, or your maternal aunts, or from the homes in your trust, or ˹the homes of˺ your friends. There is no blame on you eating together or separately. However, when you enter houses, greet one another with a greeting ˹of peace˺ from Allah, blessed and good.3 This is how Allah makes His revelations clear to you, so perhaps you will understand.

There is no blame on the blind, nor there is blame on the lame,
nor there is blame on the sick, to eat at your table. Nor shall
it be an offence for you to eat in the houses of your own
children, or your fathers, or your mothers, or your brothers, or
your sisters, or your paternal uncles, or your paternal aunts, or
your maternal uncles, or your maternal aunts, or your sincere
friends, or in houses with the keys of which you are entrusted.
There is no blame on you whether you eat together or apart;
however, when you enter the houses, you should greet one another
with the greeting of peace prescribed by Allah blessed and pure.
Thus Allah makes His revelations clear to you, so that you may
grow in understanding.

No blame is there upon the blind nor any blame upon the lame nor
any blame upon the sick nor on yourselves if ye eat from your
houses, or the houses of your fathers, or the houses of your
mothers, or the houses of your brothers, or the houses of your
sisters, or the houses of your fathers' brothers, or the houses
of your fathers' sisters, or the houses of your mothers'
brothers, or the houses of your mothers' sisters, or (from that)
whereof ye hold the keys, or (from the house) of a friend. No sin
shall it be for you whether ye eat together or apart. But when ye
enter houses, salute one another with a greeting from Allah,
blessed and sweet. Thus Allah maketh clear His revelations for
you, that haply ye may understand.

it is no fault in the blind nor in one born lame nor in one
afflicted with illness nor in yourselves that ye should eat in
your own houses or those of your fathers or your mothers or your
brothers or your sisters or your father's brothers or your
father's sisters or your mother's brothers or your mother's
sisters or in houses of which the keys are in your possession or
in the house of a sincere friend of yours: there is no blame on
you whether ye eat in company or separately. But if ye enter
houses salute each other a greeting or blessing and purity as
from Allah. Thus does Allah make clear the Signs to you: that ye
may understand. 304230433044

Note - 85

The whole of verse {61} is construed in so highly
elliptic a form that disagreements as to its purport have
always been unavoidable. However, if all the explanations
offered by the early commentators are taken into
consideration, we find that their common denominator is
the view that the innermost purport of this passage is a
stress on the brotherhood of all believers, expressed in
a call to mutual charity, compassion and good-fellowship
and, hence, the avoidance of all unnecessary formalities
in their mutual relations.

Note - 86

In the consensus of all the authorities, the expression
"your houses" implies in this context also "your
children's houses", since all that belongs to a person
may be said to belong, morally, to his parents as well.

Note - 87

I.e., "for which you are responsible".

Note - 29516

There is no blame on any of the three if they do not march forth in Allah’s cause. Moreover, some Muslims would give the keys of their homes to one of those who could not march forth (namely the blind, the disabled, or the sick) or their own relatives and ask them to enter their houses and eat at will but these people were shy to do that.

Note - 29517

i.e., the home of your spouse or children.

Note - 29518

If someone is in the house, greet them by saying, ‘As-salâmu ’alaikum’ (peace be upon you).” But if there is no one there, you greet yourselves by saying, ‘Asalâmu ’alaina wa ’ala ’ibâd-illâhi aṣ-ṣâliḥîn’ (peace be upon us and all righteous servants of Allah).”

Note - 3042

There were various Arab superstitions and fancies which
are combated and rejected here. (1) The blind, or the
halt, or those afflicted with serious disease were
supposed to be objects of divine displeasure, and as such
not fit to be associated with us in meals in our houses:
we are not to entertain such a thought, as we are not
judges of the causes of people's misfortunes, which
deserve our sympathy and kindness. (2) It was considered
unbecoming to take meals in the houses of near relatives:
this taboo is not approved. (3) A similar superstition
about houses in our possession but not in our actual
occupation is disapproved. (4) If people think they
should not fall under obligation to casual friends, that
does not apply to a sincere friend, in whose company a
meal is not to be rejected, but welcomed. (5) If people
make a superstition either that they should always eat
separately, or that they must always eat in company, as
some people weary of their own company think, either of
them is wrong. Man is free and should regulate his life
according to needs and circumstances.

Note - 3043

The shades of meaning in Salam are explained in n. 2512
to xix. 62. Here, we were first told that we might accept
hospitality and good fellowship in each other's houses.
Now we are told what spirit should animate us in doing
so. It should not be a spirit only of self-satisfaction
in a worldly sense. It should rather be a spirit of
good-will in the highest spiritual sense of the
term-purity of motives and purity of life, as in the
sight of Allah.

Note - 3044

See notes 3039 and 3041 above. The refrain comes again,
in a different form, closing the argument from a
different point of view.

Thanks for visiting Alim.org, The Alim Foundation's flagship site that provides the world's only social network built around Qur'an, Hadith, and other classical sources of Islamic knowledge.

We are a free service run by many volunteers and we need your help to stay that way. Please consider a small donation(tax-deductible in the USA) to help us improve Alim.org by adding more content and getting faster servers.

Don't remind me for 30 days

Tags

×
Any content page on the site can be “tagged” by clicking on the “Add Tag” button. A tag is any word or group of words which best describes the subject of the page it belongs to. So for example, let’s say you want to search for ayaat pertaining to the subject of tawhid (i.e. Islamic monotheism). Searching for the word tawhid itself won’t yield many results. What you really need is a way to find ayaat whose subject is tawhid but the word tawhid doesn’t necessarily appear in them. Tagging solves this problem. If you were to be reading, for example, Surah Ash-Shura ayah 11 it might come to your mind that the subject of the ayah includes the topic of tawhid. So you can now tag that page with the word “tawhid”. Thereafter, whenever someone searches for the word “tawhid”, Surah Ash-Shura ayah 11 would appear in the search results.

Asad 85The whole of verse {61} is construed in so highly
elliptic a form that disagreements as to its purport have
always been unavoidable. However, if all the explanations
offered by the early commentators are taken into
consideration, we find that their common denominator is
the view that the innermost purport of this passage is a
stress on the brotherhood of all believers, expressed in
a call to mutual charity, compassion and good-fellowship
and, hence, the avoidance of all unnecessary formalities
in their mutual relations.

Asad

0 votes 0 dislikes

Asad 86In the consensus of all the authorities, the expression
"your houses" implies in this context also "your
children's houses", since all that belongs to a person
may be said to belong, morally, to his parents as well.

Asad

0 votes 0 dislikes

Asad 87I.e., "for which you are responsible".

No Comments Found

No Comments Found

Yusuf Ali

0 votes 0 dislikes

Yusuf Ali 3042There were various Arab superstitions and fancies which
are combated and rejected here. (1) The blind, or the
halt, or those afflicted with serious disease were
supposed to be objects of divine displeasure, and as such
not fit to be associated with us in meals in our houses:
we are not to entertain such a thought, as we are not
judges of the causes of people's misfortunes, which
deserve our sympathy and kindness. (2) It was considered
unbecoming to take meals in the houses of near relatives:
this taboo is not approved. (3) A similar superstition
about houses in our possession but not in our actual
occupation is disapproved. (4) If people think they
should not fall under obligation to casual friends, that
does not apply to a sincere friend, in whose company a
meal is not to be rejected, but welcomed. (5) If people
make a superstition either that they should always eat
separately, or that they must always eat in company, as
some people weary of their own company think, either of
them is wrong. Man is free and should regulate his life
according to needs and circumstances.

Yusuf Ali

0 votes 0 dislikes

Yusuf Ali 3043The shades of meaning in Salam are explained in n. 2512
to xix. 62. Here, we were first told that we might accept
hospitality and good fellowship in each other's houses.
Now we are told what spirit should animate us in doing
so. It should not be a spirit only of self-satisfaction
in a worldly sense. It should rather be a spirit of
good-will in the highest spiritual sense of the
term-purity of motives and purity of life, as in the
sight of Allah.

Yusuf Ali

0 votes 0 dislikes

Yusuf Ali 3044See notes 3039 and 3041 above. The refrain comes again,
in a different form, closing the argument from a
different point of view.

0 votes 0 dislikes

29516

There is no blame on any of the three if they do not march forth in Allah’s cause. Moreover, some Muslims would give the keys of their homes to one of those who could not march forth (namely the blind, the disabled, or the sick) or their own relatives and ask them to enter their houses and eat at will but these people were shy to do that.

0 votes 0 dislikes

29517

i.e., the home of your spouse or children.

0 votes 0 dislikes

29518

If someone is in the house, greet them by saying, ‘As-salâmu ’alaikum’ (peace be upon you).” But if there is no one there, you greet yourselves by saying, ‘Asalâmu ’alaina wa ’ala ’ibâd-illâhi aṣ-ṣâliḥîn’ (peace be upon us and all righteous servants of Allah).”